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THE HIGH PRIEST. 



THE SANCTUARY 



OR 



TENT OF MEETING 



Esuallg Called &|je Ea&crnacle 



A SHORT STUDY OF ITS FORMS, MATERIALS, ETC. 

y 

G. WOOLWORTH COLTON 




G. W. & C. B. COLTOX & COMPANY 
1895 



,G 7 



Copyright 1895 

BY G. W. AND C. B. COLTON & Co. 



Typography by Mass, New-Church Union, Boston, 



PREFACE. 



The incentive to this study was the desirability 
of having a series of illustrations of the tabernacle 
and its furniture, to accompany a new Sunday 
School map showing the route of the Israelites 
in their journey from Egypt to Canaan. Fail- 
ure on a former occasion to obtain a satisfac- 
tory result from commentators, led now to a 
careful examination of the Bible record, and new 
things were seen almost from the commence- 
ment, every one of which carried with it changes 
in other parts of the structure, so that, in the 
end, a scheme was developed differing essen- 
tially from anything before published. 

To prove the accuracy of the conclusions 
reached, models on accurate scales were made 
of boards, curtains, etc. The views presented 



iv THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 

here are, therefore, practical and not simply 
theories which may fail when put to actual 
tests. The story has been taken literally. Noth- 
ing has been intentionally added to the plain 
record, and everything mentioned there is be- 
lieved to be present. The forms are simple, and 
harmonize with our knowledge of those still pre- 
vailing in that land of unchanging customs, and 
thus, presumably, with those of the distant day 
when Moses saw in vision the models he was 
to follow. 

The author, though thinking the views pre- 
sented to be a distinct advance on those gener- 
ally held, makes no claim to having finally set- 
tled any controverted point. He has made too 
many changes in his own work as his study has 
progressed, and has been too often obliged to 
choose between conflicting presentations, to allow 
him to think that the view finally adopted is 
certainly the true one. The things now seen are 
thus presented, in the hope that students of the 
Sacred volume may be helped thereby to form 
correct mental pictures of this wonderful struc- 



PREFACE 



ture, and of its contents, and thus to create natu- 
ral vessels that may be filled with spiritual truth. 

One important object, kept constantly in mind, 
has been to present the subject, both as to 
parts and as a whole, in a manner which would 
enable teachers in our Sunday Schools to be- 
come so familiar with the details involved, that 
they could impart them pleasantly and instruc- 
tively to their pupils, thus helping them to 
change otherwise dry details into things of life 
and beauty. It is also thought that with the 
objects plainly described and pictured, it may be 
possible for a class of ordinarily ingenious boys 
and girls to make a model of the building for 
themselves. Such an attempt, even if it should 
not prove eminently successful, could not fail 
to fix details in their minds which would be 
most useful to them. 

The text used is the Authorized version, be- 
cause that is in the hands of all our Sunday- 
School teachers and scholars, although another 
translation might, in some cases, have given a 
clearer expression to the original. 



v i THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 

Acknowledgement is gratefully made of the 
help which has been cheerfully given by all of 
whom it has been asked, as to the subtle mean- 
ings of Hebrew words and their application to 
this narrative ; but especially is this due to the 
painstaking labor of a lifetime given to the in- 
vestigation of this subject by Rev. T. O. Paine, 
LL. D., and published by him in his great work 
on the "Holy Houses. " Widely differing from 
his conclusions on the form of the building, the 
arrangement of the curtains, and on other points, 
his philological researches and the mass of facts 
he has drawn from very many sources, has opened 
the door for truer conceptions of the tabernacle 
than would otherwise have been possible. 

G. W. C. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Preface iii. 

I. The Tabernacle 3 

The Use of Mishkan and Ohel 5 

The Bedouin Tent . . 6 

II. The Planks and Associated Members 8 

The Planks, their Thickness and Make 9 

The Corner Planks 1 1 

The Rings Beneath and Above the Head .... 12 

The Tenons and their Arrangement 13 

The Socket-Blocks, their Form, etc 14 

The Side Bars and their Rings 16 

The Veil and Door Pillars and their Bars .... 18 

III. The Curtains . . . 22 

The Linen and Wool Colored Curtains 23 

The Colors in Stripes 24 

The Loops and their Arrangement . 25 

The Taches, their Form 27 

Doubling the Tabernacle Curtains 29 

Where they were placed 29 

Arrangement of the Surplus in the Corners ... 31 
Meaning of the Horizontal, Perpendicular, and Di- 
agonal Lines of the Curtains . . " 31 

Other Arrangements of the Curtains ^^ 

The Cherubim, their Form and Place 35 

The Holy of Holies a picture of the Holy City . . 36 



viii CONTENTS 



III. The Curtains — Continued. PAGE 

The Goats'-Hair Tent 35 

How United and where Placed . 37 

The Overhanging Cubit on Each Side 39 

The Priests' Chambers of the Temple 40 

The Tent Overhanging the Rear Wall 41 

The Skin Coverings Above the Tent 41 

The " Badgers' " Skins 43 

IV. The Furniture 45 

The Ark and the Mercy-Seat 46 

The Staves of the Ark 47 

The Pot of Manna and Aaron's Rod 49 

The Altar of Incense 50 

The Table and its Vessels 52 

The Lamp-Stand and its Lamps 53 

The Altar of Burnt Offering . 59 

The Laver 61 

V. The Court and its Walls 63 

The Spacing of the Court Pillars 64 

The Arrangement of the Gate and of the East End 65 

The Pillars of the Sides and of the West End ... 69 

Height and Material of the Court Pillars 70 

VI. Removal and Re-erection of the Tabernacle . 71 
The Work Apportioned Amongst the Three Fami- 
lies of the Levites 71 

The Coverings of the Furniture 72 

The Process and Order of Erection 73 

The Poles Supporting the Tabernacle Curtains . . 74 

VII. The Priestly Garments 76 

The Linen Breeches 77 

The Linen Coat 77 

The Robe of Blue 78 

The Bells and Pomegranates 80 



LIST OF ILL USTRA TIONS IX 

VII. The Priestly Garments — Continued. PAGE 

The Ephod 80 

The Stones of Memorial upon the Shoulders ... 81 

The Breastplate, its Form and Fabric 82 

The Twelve Stones of the Breastplate 83 

The Head-Dress of the High Priest 84 

Conclusion 85 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Frontispiece, Aaron's Robes. 

Perspective View of the Tabernacle and its Court . 2 

A Small Bedouin Tent 3 

The Planks, Bars, and Pillars 8 

The Twinned Corner Planks 12 

The Ring " Above the Head " ....*'...... 12 

A Socket-Block, its Form 14 

The Ring " Beneath " and its Support 15 

The Tenons in Pairs 15 

The Middle Side Bar connected with the Middle 

Bar of the Rear Series 17 

The "Waf" of the Moabite Stone 19 

The Bar Over the Door Pillars 20 

The Pillars of the Tabernacle 20 

Five Colored Curtains United 25 

The Taches in their relation to the Colors .... 27 

Suggested Form of the Tache 27 

North and South Section of the Holy of Holies . . 29 

East and West Section of the Holy of Holies ... 30 
The Overhanging Cubit with the Taches covering 

the Veil 30 

The Surplus of Curtain in the Corners 31 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 

Interior of the Tabernacle, Longitudinal View . . 32 

The Goats'-Hair Tent Curtains, how United ... 37 

The Goats'-Hair Tent Curtains, Longitudinal Section 38 

The Goats'-Hair Tent Curtains, Cross Section ... 39 

The Ark and the Mercy-Seat 45 

The Altar of Incense 50 

The Table 52 

The Lamp-Stand or Candlestick 53 

The Triple Lamp, Flower, Knop, etc 56 

Ground Plan of the Tabernacle . 58 

The Altar of Burnt Offering . 59 

The Laver 61 

Ground Plan of the Court 66 

The High Priest's Robes. 

The Robe of Blue as Woven 79 

The Robe of Blue as Prepared for Wear 79 

The Robe of Blue as Worn 79 

The Bells and Pomegranates 80 

The Ephod and the Curious Girdle 81 



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I. 



THE TABERNACLE. 




V 



According to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the 
tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, 
even so shall ye make it. 

And look that thou make them after their pattern, which 
was showed thee in the mount. (Exod. xxv. 9, 40.) 



The form of the tabernacle and of its furniture, 
even to the minutest detail, was shown to Moses 
in vision. They are therefore heavenly forms and, 
as such, they are worthy of our closest and most 
careful study ; not as beautiful artistic creations 



4 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 

as compared with aesthetic standards of today, but 
as containants or embodiments of spiritual truth 
beyond our power to exhaust, and the more we 
examine them, the more we will see in every 
feature. 

In the Mosaic record the furniture — the ark 
with its mercy-seat, the table, and the lamp-stand 
— is first described ; then the curtains, followed 
by the wooden walls and the socket-blocks for 
their foundation and support ; then the veil, the 
door curtain, the great altar, and the court hang- 
ings. The altar of incense, one of the sacred 
articles in the outer room of the tabernacle, is not 
spoken of until after descriptions of the official 
clothing of Aaron and his sons, and directions for 
the sacrifices and ceremonials connected with their 
induction into their high offices. 

The meaning of this order it is not the province 
of this study to explain. It is enough, here, to 
acknowledge that every item follows the order 
of the development of the spiritual dwelling-place 
of the Divine in man. Here it is proposed to 
consider briefly the things seen in the natural 



MISHKAN AND OHEL 



5 



descriptions of the several parts — things which, 
pointed out, seem in the main so evident that it 
is not a little remarkable that so varying and con- 
flicting views have prevailed and are found in our 
commentaries. 

Instead of following the order given in the 
Word, it seems better for our present end to 
consider the frame-work and its accessories first, 
then the curtains to complete the structure, and 
lastly the articles the tabernacle is to contain, 
and which make it the sanctuary — the dwelling- 
place of the Divine Presence ; after which we 
will consider the Court and its curtains, and some 
features presented in the High Priest's dress. 

In the descriptions of the tabernacle two He- 
brew words are used — Mishkdn and Ohel — both 
meaning in general a tent used as a dwelling- 
place. In King James's version both are ren- 
dered sometimes " tent," and in other places " tab- 
ernacle." In the Revised Version a distinction is 
made, Mishkan being uniformly translated " taber- 
nacle," and Ohel "tent." Consider- d as to their 
primary meaning Mishkdn has the se - se of a dwell- 



6 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 

ing-piace from Shakan, " to lie down, to dwell," 
and Ohel means the ordinary tent, and is so used 
from the time of Abram onward. But besides 
these restricted meanings of tent and dwelling- 
place, both words are evidently used in a broader 
sense ; Ohel to include the spaces beneath the 
canopy within and without the walls, and Mishkdn, 
the whole building in all its parts and appoint- 
ments. 

The tabernacle, then, as a whole, was a tent, 
in its essential features like the tents of the 
nomads of the desert of that day and this, but 
glorified in its materials and workmanship ; the 
nearly flat tent-roof enlarged and multiplied, its 
walls made higher and more solid, and its parti- 
tion richer in fabric, in colors, and embroidery. 

The illustration at the head of this chapter is 
a true picture of a small Bedouin tent, remarkable 
in showing simplicity of construction and, very 
closely, the proportions of the tabernacle ; for if 
the length between the end roof-supports be taken 
as a scale of thirty, the width and height of sides 
is ten, and the height of centre the same as de- 



BEDOUIN TENT 



7 



manded by the curtains of the tabernacle. Ex- 
cepting the central one, all the tent-poles are for 
the support of the outer edge or eaves of the 
tent, and if in their stead we should build a solid 
wall of wood we would have a miniature taber- 
nacle (viewed from the north), with the tent roof 
called for, the overhanging surplusage at the back, 
and an approach to the spaces surrounding the 
sacred building. 



II. 



THE PLANKS AND ASSOCIATED 
MEMBERS. 




TJHE PL'Aii-KS. BARS. AND PILLARS 



And thou shalt make boards for the tabernacle of shittim 
wood standing up. Ten cubits shall be the length of a 
board, and a cubit and a half shall be the breadth of one 
board. Two tenons shall there be in one board, set in order 
one against another ; thus shalt thou make for all the boards 
for the tabernacle. And thou shalt make the boards for the 
tabernacle, twenty boards on the south side southward. . . . 
And for the second side of the tabernacle on the north side 
there shall be twenty boards. (Exod. xxvi. 15-18, 20.) 



This description seems to admit of but one in- 



THE PLAXKS 



terpretation, but still there are points to be con- 
sidered which the making of a model has brought 
into view. Nothing is said here of the thickness 
of these planks, nor, clearly, of the relation of 
the tenons each to the other, though it is evident 
that there is a uniform rule for these, and that 
all the planks are alike in these respects. 

Josephus says that the planks were one hand- 
breadth in thickness, and in this nearly all com- 
mentators and illustrators have followed him. 
Still there are indications that these planks were 
two hand-breadths thick, one of these being the 
necessity of extending the middle bar of the sides 
to the extreme west end of the building, as spoken 
of later ; and another is derived from a study of 
Solomon's temple, which in so many ways bears 
direct help in solving tabernacle questions. The 
serious objection to this plan is the doubling of 
bulk and weight in transportation — certainly a 
thing to be considered. Our present illustrations 
show the planks as of the greater thickness — 
two hand-breadths. 

A point that has given occasion for much criti- 



IO THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 

cism, even of profane ridicule of the sacred nar- 
rative, is that of the possibility of procuring pieces 
of timber of the dimensions named. Shittim 
wood is mentioned as one of the things to be 
brought as offerings of materials needed for the 
building ; and in Exod. xxxv. 24, we are told 
that every man with whom was found shittim 
wood for any work of the service brought it ; and, 
later, that all the materials needed were super- 
abundant. 

Shittim wood was, therefore, something which 
in suitable form for the proposed work was with 
many families, and in greater than the required 
quantity. Planks of the size named — fifteen feet 
long, twenty-seven inches wide, and six inches 
thick after being worked down — would, indeed, 
be difficult to procure in our best present markets ; 
but nothing in the account makes it improbable 
that these were manufactured — were the result 
of man's labor in joining smaller pieces of wood 
such as tent poles ; and a plank so made would 
keep its integrity of shape much better than would 
one of natural growth. In fact this seems the 



THE CORNER PLANKS AND RINGS i i 

only way such massive planks could have been 
procured. The skill to make them was certainly 
present, and under Divine Providence the mate- 
rials, as we have seen above, were also there. 
And here the thought or question comes whether, 
if the planks were made as we think they were, 
they were necessarily solid and of greater weight 
than if of the smaller dimensions, when they must 
have been solid. The element of weight seems 
to be quite as important in settling the question 
of transportation as is that of bulk. 

And for the sides of the tabernacle westward thou shalt 
make six boards. And two boards shalt thou make for the 
corners of the tabernacle in the two sides. And they shall 
be coupled together beneath, and they shall be coupled 
together above the head of it unto- one ring : thus shall it 
be for them both ; they shall be for the two corners. (Exod, 
xxvi. 22-24.) 

Many have been the attempts to make a satis- 
factory explanation of this very simple account — 
simple when it is once seen. Six boards are first 
described, all alike, and in every respect, as to 
size, tenons, and socket-blocks, like the forty on 
the north and south sides ; but the two subse- 



12 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 

quently pictured are different, or they would not 
have been so particularly noticed. These two 
corner planks were, as a whole, exactly like the 
others ; the difference is that they are each cut 
into two nearly equal parts. A cubit 
and a half is nine hand-breadths and the 
nearest we can come to an unfractional 
equal division of these is four and five, 
and, so divided, each of the pieces has a 
tenon and a socket-block. The two are 
angled, and are joined to the last plank 
of the side series by a ring "beneath" and 
a ring " above the head." These rings 
are countersunk into the body of the 



Q. 



5 

3 



'/2 cu.^9 hand breadths a 



planks, and unite the 
three members of each 
corner into firm starting 

Upper end of planks, ^^* u n r^ <_u 

HP F points tor the construe- 
north west corner'. show- 
ing manner of coupling by tion of the walls which, 
the Ring above the Hfcad.. ag we ^ ^ RVQ thus 

so strongly united as to need no addition of cords 
or mortises or plates to prevent either collapse or 
outward spread. 



\*^* 



THE T£iVOA T S 



«3 



In some plans of the tabernacle the planks are 
assumed to need support, and they are shown as 
tongued and grooved, or with dowels ; in others, 
plates are added on the top over the joints for 
the same purpose, but such additions seem unnec- 
essary with the corners well secured, the cross 
bars to be spoken of later, and the long outside 
bars called for in the description. 

The tenons, two to each plank, are not de- 
scribed as to size or materials. Josephus speaks 
of them as having been of silver and, of course, 
as driven into the body of the board ; but this 
seems not so likely a plan as that they were 
projections of the body of the plank, especially 
if, as seems probable, these were manufactured by 
joining several smaller pieces, in which case the 
extension of the proper member would give the 
desired result. Then, too, such a tenon with its 
larger surface and greater purchase would be 
much stronger and more useful than would a 
smaller one of silver. The position of these ten- 
ons on the planks is determined by the necessity 
of having a socket-block under each corner for 



I 4 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 

the support of the ring beneath the twinned 
boards. Dr. Paine in his great and exhaustive 
work on the "Holy Houses" demonstrates that 
a talent of silver, the amount contained in each 
of the socket-blocks (Exod. xxxviii. 27), would 
make exactly nine cubic hand-breadths, and ex- 
periment with different forms has led to the 
adoption of 4 x 2 1-2 hand-breadths == 10, from 
which take out the area required by the socket 
and 9 square hand-breadths are left, 
in a shape to give greater strength 
and stability to the structure than 
if square. This shape also fits the 
requirements of support under the 
corners of the building for the ring which must 
be beneath, and that the planks must be ten- 
oned alike. They are in pairs. They cannot 
be separated further, or be equally spaced under 
the whole extent of wall, nor can they be brought 
closer together and give the necessary support to 
the bottom ring, as an examination of the dia- 
gram or experiment will show. It now rests not 
only on the corner block, but also on those ad- 









1 




i, 




1 











T£A r OA T S AND SOCKETS 



15 



joining it on both sides. 




Under end of corner 
planks.showing the Ring 
and its three supporting 



The Revised Version 
of Exod. xxxv. 2, 
reads, " two tenons 
joined one to an- 
other/' where the Au- 
thorized Version 
reads, " two tenons 
equally distant one 



^ socket blocks 

from another." This seems to mean, as here 
developed, that they were separated somewhat, 
but nearer together as pairs, than each pair was 
from the next. 




h2'/2h.b.^^ 4H> h b f^21?h.bMT 

This plan makes the inner line of the socket- 
blocks flush with the inner face of the planks, 
and outside they project much as the feet of a 
file of soldiers, in pairs. It may also be noted 
that the extreme width of the foundation on the 
west end, from the outside of southern corner 
socket-block to the outside of the northern corner, 
is exactly twelve cubits — a measure which seems 
to be associated with this place. 



1 6 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 

And thou shalt make bars of shittim wood ; five for the 
boards of the one side of the tabernacle and five bars for 
the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars 
for the boards of the side of the tabernacle, for the two sides 
westward. And the middle bar in the midst of the boards 
shall reach from end to end. And thou shalt overlay the 
boards with gold, and make their rings of gold for places 
for the bars ; and thou shalt overlay the bars with gold. 
(Exod. xxvi. 26-29.) 

Nothing is said of the thickness of these bars, 
but the probabilities are that they were a hand- 
breadth in diameter ; and this conclusion is 
reached in part by the requirement that the 
middle bar of each of the side series must extend 
from end to end of the building. This diameter 
admits the bar to extend through the return or 
elbow of the end plank, without materially weaken- 
ing it (that is if the planks were two hand-breadths 
in thickness), to the corresponding bar of the west 
end, and, with a dowel on the end of the side bar, 
to enter into a socket in the other as Josephus 
says it did. Any one constructing a model of 
the tabernacle on a scale, say of two inches to a 
cubit, will recognize the importance of this feature 
and the secure locking of the sides together, 



SIDE BARS AND RINGS 



17 





thereby leaving no possible chance for spreading 
of the walls 
at the end. 

The four 
remaining bars of each series 
were two in the upper tier and 
two in the lower, and these were probably of 
nearly equal length. These do not appear to 
have gone through to the extreme west end of 
the building, but seem to have stopped at the 
easterly face of the elbow of the corner plank. 

The rings usually represented as round were 
more probably flat, like sections of a tube ; for 
such rings could be as readily and as firmly at- 
tached to the planks as if round, and there would 
be no staples, or their equivalent, to interfere with 
the free passage of a round bar through them. 
With the corners of the building secured both 
by the rings and the bars as above described, 
one such ring on a plank for each series is all- 
sufficient for strength, and, indeed, is far better 
in use than two. 



All the forty-eight planks and the fifteen bars 



!8 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 

were to be overlaid with gold, but whether this 
was in the form of plates or of gold-leaf we are 
not informed. It must have been thin, for no al- 
lowance seems to have been made for it in pre- 
paring the wood form. The dimensions given 
include the gold. 

The pillars for the veil and for the door-screen 
with the bars supported by them, were to be of 
wood and gold covered. 

And thou shalt hang it [the veil] upon four pillars of 
shittim wood overlaid with gold : their hooks shall be of 
gold, upon the four sockets of silver. . . . And thou shalt 
make for the hanging [the door screen] five pillars of shittim 
wood, and overlay them with gold, and their hooks shall 
be of gold : and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for 
them. (Exod. xxvi. 32, 37.) 

The height of the veil pillars is not given, nor 
if round or square in form. The only instruction 
bearing on this point is, that the veil is to hang 
below the taches joining the united sets of linen 
and wool curtains that formed the tabernacle 
proper. These taches, it will be shown later, were 
not more than one cubit below the top of the side 
planks, and thus these pillars, with their hooks 



THE VEIL AND DOORBARS 19 




and the bar they supported, must have been as 
high as the walls — ten cubits. Dr. Paine, in the 
work before mentioned, states that the word trans- 
lated hooks — waf — in its ancient form as shown 
on the Moabite stone is shaped 
thus : and such a form upon the 
top of each of the four pillars is pre- 
cisely the thing needed as a rest for 
a bar which, extending from wall to 
wall, would serve as a support both for the veil 
and for the rich colored curtains of the tabernacle. 
This bar would also greatly strengthen the walls 
and effectually prevent all danger of collapse. 
The same arrangement for the door screen seems 
even more demanded than for the veil, for there 
not only is that curtain to be supported, but pro- 
vision must be made for the goats'-hair tent and 
the outer skin coverings, which if not so held in 
place must have special support. The centre line 
of these door pillars naturally comes on the line 
of the front edge of the first side planks, or thirty 
cubits from the west end of the enclosed area ; 
the centre of the bar, therefore, is in the same 



2Q THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 



vertical plane, or one half is beyond the front line 
of the building. By halving the bar and letting 



THE BAR OVER THE DOOR PILLARS. SUPPORTING THE ROOF COVERINGS 
from, above from the inside from the outside 




it project along the face of the end planks we not 
only give support to the walls, as we did 
with the bar of the veil pillars, but we 
give a firm rest to the goats'-hair tent 
and its outer skin-coverings which, in 
their turn, add stability to the structure 
and bind all its parts securely together. 

It is possible that both the veil and the 
door screen were double and were thrown 
over the bar, thus covering both sides of 
the pillars ; or it may be that one or the 
other, or both, were single, in which case 
hooks must be added to the pillars and 
rings to the curtains. We incline to the 
opinion that the veil was double, show- 
ing the cherubim on the inner side only, and 



THE TABERNACLE PILLARS 21 

these in size and position to match those on the 
north, south, and west sides of the Most Holy ; 
and that, because of the great pressure from the 
roof-coverings upon the front bar and the conse- 
quent difficulty in hanging the door curtain over 
it, that that curtain was single and suspended 
from hooks in the pillars under the overhanging 
doubled eleventh goats'-hair curtain, as the veil 
was under the overhanging tabernacle curtains and 
their taches. We think, too, that the pillars were 
more likely rectangular than round, because in 
this form their bases would have firmer support, 
the upper face would present a better place for 
hooks from which to hang a curtain, and would 
bring the edges of the curtains into closer con- 
nection with the walls. 



III. 

THE CURTAINS. 



Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains 
of fine-twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet : with 
cherubim of cunning work shalt thou make them. The 
length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and 
the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and every one of 
the curtains shall have one measure. The five curtains shall 
be coupled together one to another ; and other five curtains 
shall be coupled one to another. And thou shalt make loops 
of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge 
in the coupling ; and likewise shalt thou make in the utter- 
most edge of another curtain, in the coupling of the second. 
Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain and fifty loops 
shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is in the 
coupling of the second ; that the loops may take hold one 
of another. And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, and 
couple the curtains together with the taches : and it shall be 
one tabernacle. (Exod. xxvi. 1-6.) 

In the above description we have many items, 
all important and each bearing on every other — 
the materials of which the curtains were made; 

23 



THE COLORED CURTAINS 



their colors ; the method of joining each five into 
a single curtain ; how the loops were made ; what 
were the taches and how they were used ; and, 
finally, where these curtains w r ere placed. There 
is no unanimity of view among commentators on 
any one of these points, and the thoughts upon 
them presented here are essentially different 
from any known to have been published hereto- 
fore. 

There is little doubt about the linen having 
been the thread of the warp, or that the colored 
threads were the filling, and of wool. This is 
not so stated, but it is inferred from the fact that 
the linen is always spoken of as a material dis- 
tinct from that which w r as dyed. Cloth made 
of a combination of linen and wool was certainly 
known to the people, but its use for clothing was 
forbidden except to the priest. But here the 
cloth was not for garments and the prohibition 
consequently does not apply. 

The colors of the wool are always named in 
the same order — Blue, Purple, and Scarlet. We 
are not told how these were associated or used, 



24 



THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 



but stripes are not only the simplest arrange- 
ment, but it is the one in common use today 
among the desert peoples, and it seems probable 
that these curtains, and the others of similar ma- 
terials, were woven in stripes. Experiment in 
trying to fit the taches upon stripes so as to fol- 
low some order representing or embodying spir- 
itual truth, seems to support this assumption and 
to prove that the stripes were each a hand-breadth 
in width. 

The colors here called blue, purple, and scarlet 
were not those we know by those names. The 
blue was warmed by a considerable infusion of 
red. Our purple is a color midway between blue 
and red, whereas this was a deep crimson inclined 
towards blue, but still far from the idea conveyed 
by the name purple as popularly used. The scar- 
let would more properly be described as "Flame" 
color. We thus have in the colors named an 
ascending series. "These three colors serve most 
accurately to discriminate the threefold quality of 
the sincere worshipper, i, Blue, descriptive of 
the quality of celestial light or truth ; 2, Crimson 



THE COLORED CURTAINS 



25 



(purple), the quality and brilliancy of celestial heat 
or love in the affections of the will ; and 3, 
Flame (scarlet), denoting the quality and warmth 
of enlightened faith and mutual charity reflected 
in the outward life." Made ley. 



20 cubits 



The ten curtains of 
equal size, each four 
cubits by twenty-eight 
cubits, were joined so as 
to form two sets of five 
each, the joining being 
undoubtedly on the sel- 
vedges, thus making the 
joined curtain twenty cu- 
bits by twenty-eight. 

These two sets of five each were then united 
by means of loops of blue and taches of gold. 

The loops and their associated taches have 
caused much speculation, and many ingenious 
plans have been devised to answer the require- 
ments ; but the one which seems to satisfy the 
demand better than any other is, that the loops 
were such as would be made by stretching a 



2 6 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 

piece of cord out and fastenings the ends as far 
apart as possible, rather than the usual form of 
attaching the ends to the fabric close together. 
Or, better still it would seem, using a single long 
cord, sewing tight and leaving a space alternately. 
Two curtains so treated laid one upon the other, 
and the taches of the A. V. or the clamps of the 
R. V. inserted in the loops, the two would be 
closely united. These loops on both curtains 
were especially directed to be of blue, and to be 
fifty in number. Much time and labor was spent 
in efforts to make these loops and taches fall into 
some manifest order in their relation to the 
stripes of color in the curtains, but not until the 
curtains were actually made in scale, the stripes 
each a hand-breadth wide, and the taches, each a 
hand-breadth in length, were spaced upon it, did 
the order appear. It is this : the stripes being 
one hand-breadth in width, the space between the 
taches is two and one-third stripes, the first in a 
series is a tache on a blue stripe, the second is 
two-thirds blue and one third red, the third is 
one-third blue and two-thirds red, the fourth 



THE T ACHES 27 



all red, the fifth two-thirds red and one-third 
orange, the sixth one-third red and two-thirds 
orange, the seventh all orange, the eighth two- 
thirds orange and one-third blue, the ninth one- 
third orange and two-thirds blue, the tenth, like 
the first, all blue ; and so through the whole 
series : the fifty, with the end fastenings, exactly 
filling the length of twenty-eight cubits, thus 
confirming the selection of a hand-breadth as 
the width of the stripes. 



THE TACHES IN RELATION TO THE COLORS 

What the form of the taches was is not plainly 
seen. They were attachments of the curtains, 
connecting the two united sets of five each so 
closely that they two were made one. A search 
in Egyptian collections has failed to show any 
thing more likely than a spirally-twisted wire — 



a form used at the time in earrings and in some 



2 8 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OE MEETING 

other places. This form seems to answer the 
requirements, and, in the absence of anything 
better, it is suggested as an approach to the 
tache of the tabernacle. 

As to the place where these curtains were 
used there is a diversity of opinion, some hang- 
ing them about both rooms inside, some in dif- 
ferent ways both inside and outside under the 
goats'-hair tent. Apparently the only definite 
instruction which bears on this question is "and 
thou shalt hang up the veil underneath the 
taches " (Exod. xxvi. 33). The line of taches, 
the joining of the two curtains, must therefore 
be over the bar or pillars supporting the veil. 
This requirement must be closely kept in mind. 
The fine texture and their coloring and embroid- 
ery seem to indicate that they were an in-door 
fabric, and the cherubim upon them point to the 
Holy of Holies, the home of the ark w r ith its 
mercy-seat and cherubim, as the place where 
they were used. They formed the tabernacle in 
the restricted use of that word, and that room, 
like the Oracle in the temple, was a cube — its 



POSITION OF CURTAIXS 



2 9 



length, its breadth, and its height each ten cu- 
bits, as the Oracle was twenty in each measure. 
To limit these curtains to these dimensions we 
must double them. Nothing is said in the 
record about doubling ; but, except we do so, 
there seems no way of using them not full of 
difficult and objectionable features, such as the 
addition of poles not mentioned in the Word. 

Experiment with accurately proportioned cur- 
tains in a large model has developed the plan 
here shown. The veil being across the room, 
north and south, the edge of this curtain with 
the taches must be in that line, and the length 
of the curtain being twenty-eight cubits we see 
that it will, after crossing the roof of ten cubits, 
descend on each side nine cubits, or to within 
one cubit of the floor. In 
the other direction the joined 
and doubled curtain is twenty 
cubits and starting one cubit 
from the floor, as on the 
north and south sides we have nine cubits on 
the back, ten cubits on the roof, and one cubit 







10 


cu. 






I 
h- 



■S) 


6 


leu. 






6 

V 

O) 
1 CU 


X 

\- 


z 



30 



THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 




ximsmmmk 






with the taches hanging over the bar of the veil 
pillars. This overplus of 
one cubit also extends along 
the sides against the north 
and south boards, and thus 
the veil hung upon the pil- 
lars supporting the bar, will be literally under the 
taches, not only those on the 
top, but also those on both 
sides — all of the fifty. No- 
tice, too, that the veil is thus 
kept securely in position, the 
weight of the taches contributing to this end, 
and that there is no danger of exposure of the 
inner room from the swaying of the curtain, as 
might be the case if not so thoroughly protected. 
This seems to fully answer the requirements 
named. The interior room thus made, besides 
being in the cubic form, resembles the Oracle of 
the temple, in being a dark room, and this seems 
an essential point, whether viewed naturally or 
spiritually. 



But the curtain besides being doubled has a 



ARRANGEMENT OF THE CURTAINS 



31 



large surplus in the corners. How this is dis- 
posed of is shown in a 



. JL 



JO 



9 

—7 — ' — r~ 



10 



Wljst 

Ead 




d i:de 



Roof 



£>oiitL 

Side 



h 






model. The corners are 
supported by poles, and 
the surplus is draped 
about them completely 
hiding them and adding 
greatly to the appear- 
ance of the room. And 
here we should notice 
a feature which at first 

sight may seem to be a blemish, namely, that 
the stripes are lengthwise, or horizontal on the 
sides, and perpendicular on the west end and in 
the overhanging front. This necessarily follows 
from the covering being in one piece ; but as 
we think of the signification of lines, we see 
that there is a meaning in this arrangement ; for 
these horizontal lines running east and w r est 
have reference to the love principle of the 
mind, and perpendicular lines, or width, or dis- 
tance north and south, point to degrees of wis- 
dom or intelligence in spiritual things. In the 




32 



OTHER PLACES PROPOSED 



33 



corner drapery the lines naturally fall into diag- 
onal lines, and these represent principles con- 
necting those shown by the others, or such as re- 
sult from their union in thought and life. There 
seems to be no point connected with this study 
which does not develop phases from which spir- 
itual truth may be drawn. 

In the scheme just presented, this set of cur- 
tains is considered as having sole reference to 
the single inner room containing the ark and its 
holy treasure, and as in themselves forming the 
tabernacle in the restricted use of the name, and 
not as forming a part of the tent, as do the goats'- 
hair curtains and its two skin-coverings. But this 
view is not in line with the thought of some who 
have given this subject much more attention than 
we have, and whose opinions we feel should be 
presented for the judgment of the reader. Some 
see these rich curtains as an under covering of 
the goats'-hair tent, and as being the roof seen 
in both of the rooms and under the overhanging 
sides and rear of the tent outside the walls ; others 
think they covered the roof of both rooms and 



34 



THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 



hung down on the outside of the gilded planks ; 
and still others, that they covered the inner walls 
of both rooms as well as the roof or ceiling. The 
first and second arrangements leave the walls of 
the interior entirely uncovered and make no dis- 
crimination between the outer and the inner room 
in the matter of curtains : they adorn the outer 
ceiling in the one case, and the exterior walls in 
the other, and present structural difficulties not 
easy to remove. The third plan would require 
for its fulfilment a number of poles along the 
sides of the rooms, to hold up the curtains, or 
the mutilation of the walls themselves for that 
purpose. We see no way of adopting either of 
the suggestions made, on account of these and 
other structural difficulties, though we must ad- 
mit that there are expressions in the descriptions, 
and in the authorized explanations of them, that 
seem to support each of the plans named. 

There is still a point to be spoken of here — 
the cherubim. These are mentioned in many 
places in the Word and in various forms. They 
were evidently purely representative figures and 



THE CHERUBIM 



35 



not the image of any living earthly creature. 
They combined something of the human with the 
wings of the bird and the feet of the calf; and 
in some the faces of the lion and the eagle are 
added to those of a man and the cherub. In 
some cases they had hands, in others it is inferred 
that they were without them. All we can do, 
therefore, is to show something indefinite, with 
the acknowledgment that it is the merest ap- 
proximation and without definite authority. 

These remarks apply to the cherubs on the 
mercy-seat as well as to those embroidered on 
the tabernacle curtains. 

We have seen that the bottom of these curtains 
on the three sides of the room are one cubit from 
the floor, and if these figures are placed one-half 
cubit from their lower edge they will be on the 
same level with cherubs on the mercy-seat. As 
to size, those on the mercy-seat must have been 
two cubits in height, with wings spreading two 
cubits or one cubit each. This will give two 
pairs on each of the four sides of the room after 
allowing for the draping in the corners, 



36 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OE MEETING 

We see this room, as described above, with its 
length and breadth and height equal, the cherubs 
surrounding it and the three spaces on each side 
formed by them — cherubs on either hand and 
outstretched wings meeting above — and in it a 
picture is presented of the Holy City, the new 
Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 
having the glory of God . . . and a wall great 
and high, and twelve gates ... on the east three 
gates ; on the north three gates ; on the south 
three gates ; and on the west three gates. . . . 
And the city lieth four square . . . the length 
and the breadth and the height of it are equal. 

The next curtains mentioned are those of goats' 
hair, described as a covering for the tabernacle 
and as a tent. 

And thou shalt make curtains of goats' hair to be a cov- 
ering upon the tabernacle : eleven curtains shalt thou make. 
The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the 
breadth of one curtain four cubits ; and the eleven curtains 
shall be all of one measure. And thou shalt couple five 
curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and 
shalt double the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tab- 
ernacle. And thou shalt make fifty loops on the edge of 
the one curtain that is outermost in the coupling, and fifty 



THE GOATS'-HAIR TENT 



37 



loops in the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second. 
And thou shalt make fifty taches of brass, and put the taches 
into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be 
one. And the remnant that remaineth of the curtains of the 
tent, the half curtain that remaineth shall hang over the 
back side of the tabernacle. And a cubit on the one side, 
and a cubit on the other side of that which remaineth in 
the length of the curtains of the tent, it shall hang over the 
sides of the tabernacle, on this side and on that side, to 
cover it. (Exod. xxvi. 7-13.) 

The directions for size and number are plain, 
and admit of no misconstruction. Eleven cur- 
tains, each thirty cubits long and four wide, 
are first made into two sets of five and six, and 
these united by fifty brass taches make a sin- 



1 


2 


3 


4 


5 


1 


2 


3 


4 


5 




_<6 


4 
1 


.he 










CO 
0) 

-C 












3! 

L ' 
> | 
3 ! 

A 




Half ( 


Xirtai 


n 








(0 

h- 












i!i 


1 1 


FI 


VE 


cyri 


TAtt 


IS 


CO 


SIX 


CUE 


TAI* 


S 




# 




L 


2 

lat 


3c 


Ibi 


s 




CO 

DO 




24 cu 


bits 




1 




> < 

> 1 


Rem 


aineL 


1 


















i 


31 
























E 


i 


— _i 



10 cu x 



31 cu. 



*i> 



gle united tent covering thirty by forty-four 



38 



THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 



cubits. One-half of the western united curtain 
of five is to hang over the back of the plank 
wall, and one-half of the eleventh single cur- 
tain is to be doubled over the other half and 
lie, evenly divided, over the bar above the door- 
screen pillars — the forefront of the building. 




LONGITUDINAL SECllON Showing Goats Hair Tent Curtains 



This leaves seven and one-half curtains and one- 
quarter of the doubled eleventh, or thirty-one cu- 
bits in all, to cover the thirty cubits of the inside 
length of the building and the thickness of the 
rear wall, thus admitting of an elevation of the 
centre to a height sufficient to shed water in a 
rain storm. Thus we dispose of the length of the 
united curtains satisfactorily ; but when we come 
to the width, we are met by old ideas which seem 
to restrict it to an overhanging on the sides, of 
only one cubit from the upper line of the plank 



THE OVERHANGING CUBIT 



39 



wall, and so long as that thought prevails we can 
come to no satisfactory solution of the problem. 
Every combination of the curtains in fives and 
sixes and elevens which could be thought of has 
been made and tried on our model, and, while 
some answered in many respects, all were most 
unsatisfactory somewhere, and had to be laid aside 
as failing to give a full answer. The plan finally 
seen to be a complete fulfilment of the require- 
ments is as follows. 

All through these descriptions things are taken 
as present which have not yet been spoken of. 
So here, where reference is made to a cubit on 
each side over or beyond the size of something 
else, reference, we think, is made to the two skin 
coverings which are to lie upon it ; and from 
this we get one of the dimensions of those cover- 
ings, namely, 



Half section of 
Middle. 



One half West end 




CROSS SECTIONS 

ty of the goats'-hair tent. 



twenty - eight 
cubits, or two 
cubits less 
than the thir- 
We have from this 



40 



THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 



a resulting form for the goats'-hair tent like that 
shown above ; the one cubit which is the remain- 
der on each side, after covering it by skins, is 
seen to "hang over the sides of the tabernacle, 
on this side and on that side to cover it." 

A confirmation of this plan is found in the 
study of temple forms and the fixed relation of 
dimensions, etc., seen between the two buildings ; 
for the distance between the overhanging cubit 
of the goats'-hair tent and the planks is ex- 
actly one-half those of corresponding portions of 
the temple — the hall ways or passages surround- 
ing it, and the priests' chambers opening into 
them — namely five and one-half cubits in the mid- 
dle section, and six cubits in the end sections. 

This difference in the two places is caused by 
the elevation in the centre, which requires twelve 
cubits between the outer lines of the walls at 
that point, whereas between the same points at 
the ends there is but ten and two-thirds cubits 
so taken up. To be literal, therefore, and make 
the overhanging part of the goats'-hair tent one 
cubit throughout the whole length, the outer line 



THE TENT OVERHANGING THE REAR 41 

of the curtain edge cannot be straight, but must 
be slightly concave (as shown in the ground 
plan of the Court, etc., p. 66). 

A very interesting feature developed in this 
arrangement of the goats'-hair curtains is the 
tent or living accommodation on the back of the 
western end of the building. That there was 
something of the kind connected with the tab- 
ernacle, as there certainly was with the temple, 
is evident from the fact that Aaron and his sons 
remained in the tabernacle seven days during 
their consecration, and it is said that Joshua de- 
parted not from the tabernacle. Both of these 
statements involve such a place as is furnished 
by this tent in the rear of the building, and they 
seem to confirm the correctness of the plan. 

The remaining outside coverings are described 
in few words, but these contain much to puzzle 
the investigator. They are : 

And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams' 
skins dyed red, and a covering above of badgers' skins. 
(Exod. xxvi. 14.) 

The order in which these and the others are 



42 



THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 



mentioned is always the same, proceeding from 
the inside outward — i, the tabernacle; 2, the 
goats'-hair tent ; 3, the rams' skins ; and 4, those 
called badgers' skins ; and these skins are said to 
be a covering above the others, and there con- 
sequently they must go. 

As to the size of these skin coverings, it has 
been remarked that they were two cubits smaller 
than the goats'-hair tent, or twenty-eight cubits 
in their north and south dimensions. East and 
west we may assume that they extended over 
the entrance and the rear wall about as much 
as over the sides. 

Did these skins have hair upon them, or were 
they dressed like leather? The same Hebrew 
word is used for skins as taken from the animal, 
and for those dressed for clothing or for bottles, 
and we get no light there except as we learn 
that the root word signifies something bare, 
smooth, or naked. We are justified, therefore, 
in deciding that these skins were leather and 
without the hair. The lower of the two cover- 
ings then, in this light, is of rams' skins or leather 



THE BADGERS 1 SKINS 



43 



dyed Red. What shall we say of those called 
badgers' skins ? Scholars have examined this 
matter from all sides. Certainly there are no 
wild animals in the Mount Sinai peninsula now, 
nor have we evidence of there having been at 
the time of the Exodus, whose skins would an- 
swer the demand. The Revised version gives 
the name " Seal " skins, and in the margin " Por- 
poise " ; but neither of these seems to fit the 
case, and, if this were different, the use of the 
skins of an unclean animal in such a relation to 
this Holy building seems unlikely, if not en- 
tirely inadmissible. We get some light on the 
subject by noticing that the innermost curtains 
are essentially a sheep product — wool ; the next 
are a goat product — goats' -hair cloth; the 
third are again sheep — rams' skins dyed red; 
and analogy suggests that the fourth was of 
goat or kid skins. They certainly were some- 
thing which was in the houses (tents) of the 
people, like the shittim-wood, the gold, silver, 
and copper, the dye stuffs, the wool and goats' 
hair, the spices, the oil, and the precious stones. 



44 



THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 



They were not sent for from a distance ; they 
were with them and a part of the offerings 
brought in answer to the call of Moses (see 
Exod. xxxv. 23). Further, in the Septuagint 
the passage reads, "Rams' skins dyed red and 
hyacinth ;" not an animal but a skin colored the 
peculiar blue before spoken of, as the others are 
colored red. And Josephus, perhaps an authority 
of little value here, though he may have been 
taught by traditions since lost, says of them, 
"viewed ... at a distance . . . they seemed 
not at all to differ from the color of the sky." 
(Book III. Chap. vi. 4.) 

A correspondent, well qualified to speak on 
the subject, suggested that the two skin cover- 
ings were of equal value and that neither cov- 
ered the entire building; but that one was over 
the holy place, and the other over the most holy, 
illustrating the thought both from nature and 
from the correspondences indicated by the colors 
and the materials themselves. The suggestion 
is given here that it may be thought of, and 
perhaps lead to a determination of an interesting 
point. 



IV. 



THE FURNITURE. 




The descriptions of size and materials of the 
several articles are simple and precise. Still the 
effort to make of them something ornamental 
and elaborate in beautiful details, according to 
our modern standards, has led many illustrators 
to add features not supplied in the narrative. 
The pictures here presented are, in the main, 
those developed by Rev. Dr. Paine. They are 



46 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 

severely simple in their forms ; but better so 
than add items purely of the fancy. 

THE ARK AND THE MERCY-SEAT. 

And they shall make an ark of shittim wood : two cubits 
and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a 
half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height 
thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within 
and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a 
crown of gold round about. And thou shalt cast four rings 
of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof; 
and two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings 
in the other side of it. And thou shalt make staves of 
shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt 
put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that 
the ark may be borne with them. The staves shall be in 
the rings of the ark : they shall not be taken from it. And 
thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give 
thee. (Exod. xxv. 10-16.) 

This gold-covered wooden chest or box, with 
its covering mercy-seat of gold, was made to en- 
close and protect the tables of stone — the testi- 
mony — to be given to Moses ; and because of 
the presence of these it was the essential and 
most holy thing connected with the tabernacle. 
It was the sole occupant of the richly-curtained 
Holy of Holies — the cubic room, occupying the 



THE ARK 



47 



western end of the building — and about it the 
Divine Presence manifested itself visibly, not only 
to Moses and Aaron, but to the whole congrega- 
tion of Israel. 

There are some things to be particularly noted 
respecting the Ark. The size is precisely stated 
— in our measure forty-five inches long, twenty- 
seven inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high. 
The crown, or border, about its upper edge seems 
to have been, in part at least, for the purpose of 
retaining the cover, the mercy-seat, in its place. 
The rings on the sides for the bars or staves were 
of gold, and the staves themselves, wood in body, 
were covered with gold. These staves were not 
to be withdrawn, as were those of the other arti- 
cles in the eastern room, but were to remain in 
the rings, and yet in Numb. iv. 6, where the mov- 
ing of the camp is described, it is directed that 
the staves should be put in the Ark. How put 
in if not previously removed ? In the temple the 
staves of the Ark were draw T n out, not entirely, 
but enough for their presence and place to be 
seen in the outer room (i Kings viii. 8), and so 



48 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 

they probably were here. They were drawn for- 
ward so as to push out the veil and make their 
position known ; and this shows that all the illus- 
trations or ground plans of the tabernacle which 
place the Ark across the Holy of Holies — on a 
north and south line — are in error. We know 
of no single one which is correct in this respect. 
It should be placed on the central east and west 
line of the axis of the building. 

And thou shalt make a mercy-seat of pure gold : two cu- 
bits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and 
a half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt make two cher- 
ubim of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the 
two ends of the mercy-seat. And make one cherub on the 
one end, and the other cherub on the other end : even of 
the mercy-seat shall ye make the cherubim on the two ends 
thereof. And the cherubim shall stretch forth their wings 
on high, covering the mercy-seat with their wings, and their 
faces shall look one to another; towards the mercy-seat 
shall the faces of the cherubim be. And thou shalt put the 
mercy-seat above upon the ark ; and in the ark thou shalt 
put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will 
meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above 
the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim which are 
upon the ark of the testimony, of ail things which I will 
give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel. 
(Exod. xxv. 17-22.) 

The mercy-seat was not of wood like the body 



THE MERCY-SEAT AND THE CHERUBIM 49 

of the Ark, but of pure gold, and upon it stood 
the two cherubs with outstretched wings. These 
cherubs must have been a little removed inwards 
from the edge and so, probably, just two cubits 
apart at their feet. This would make the wings 
each one cubit long, or with a spread of two cu- 
bits ; and if of an approach to human proportions 
they would stand about two cubits in height as 
figured in the illustration. The form of these 
cherubim has been spoken of in connection with 
the tabernacle curtains. 

Possibly both the wings of the cherubim and 
the figures themselves should have been drawn in 
our illustration more in the style of the Egyptian 
cherubs ; that is, with their conventional form of 
wings rather than with those of birds, and the 
figures less human in form ; but being understood 
to be purely imaginary it is probably of little con- 
sequence how they are made. 

Within the Ark were deposited the two tables 
of stone on which were written the Command- 
ments, and nothing else. The pot of manna and 
Aaron's rod have been thought of by some as 



50 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 

being within the Ark, and by others as being be- 
side it in the same room. These two articles 
were to be laid before the testimony (Exod. xvi. 
34 : Numb. xvii. 10), by which we understand that 
they were, like the altar of incense, in the outer 
room just before the veil, perhaps between it and 
the altar. 

THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 




And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon : of 
shittim wood shalt thou make it. A cubit shall be the length 
thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof ; four square shall 
it be, and two cubits shall be the height thereof : the horns 
thereof shall be of the same. And thou shalt overlay it with 
pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, 
and the horns thereof ; and thou shalt make unto it a crown 
of gold round about. And two golden rings shalt thou make 
to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof, upon 
the two sides of it shalt thou make it ; and they shall be for 
places for the staves to bear it withal. And thou shalt make 
the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. And 
thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the 



THE ALTAR OF INCENSE 



51 



testimony, before the mercy-seat that is over the testimony 
where I will meet with thee. And Aaron shall burn thereon 
sweet incense every morning : when he dresseth the lamps, 
he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth 
the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual 
incense before the Lord, throughout your generations. Ye 
shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor 
meat offering : neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon. 
And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it 
once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atone- 

J o 

ments ; once in the year shall he make atonement upon it 
throughout your generations : it is most holy unto the Lord. 
(Exod. xxx. 1-10.) 

Though not spoken of till after the table and 
lamp-stand, and the garments of Aaron and his 
sons, with directions for their installation into 
their priestly office, the position of the golden 
altar of incense in the room makes it proper to 
treat of it here. The form and size are so mi- 
nutely described that nothing need be said of 
them. 

It is commonly placed nearer the door screen 
or curtain than either the table or the lamp-stand ; 
but this seems to us wrong. We think it was, 
as shown in the ground plan and section of the 
tabernacle, immediately before the veil and near 



52 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 

the projecting staves of the ark. This is an in- 
ference here, but in the temple we know it was 
so placed and the reasons governing there apply 
here, or rather, it was so situated there because 
it was so here. 

THE TABLE. 



Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood ; two cubits 
shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, 
and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt 
overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold 
round about. And thou shalt make unto it a border of 
a handbreadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden 
crown to the border thereof round about. And thou shalt 
make for it four rings of gold and put the rings in the four 
corners that are on the four feet thereof. Over against the 
border shall the rings be for places of the staves to bear the 
table. And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and 
overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with 
them. And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons 
thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover 
withal : of pure gold shalt thou make them. And thou shalt 
set upon the table shew-bread before me always. (Exod. 
xxv. 23-30.) 



THE TABLE 



S3 



The dimensions of the table and other partic- 
ulars are given, but nothing is said of ornamen- 
tation. It is therefore unwise to draw forms with 
carving on sides or legs or feet as is often done. 
The vessels upon the table were of at least four 
kinds. This is imperfectly expressed in our 
translation, but Dr. Paine in his " Holy Houses " 
shows them to have been Oil jars, Incense cups, 
Libation tankards, and Libation cups. These 
were all of pure gold. In the same work it is 
also proved from many sources that the bread — 
"face bread " — was disposed on the table in 
two rows of six each, rather than in two piles 
of six as frequently represented. 



THE LAMP-STAND OR CANDLESTICK. 






And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold ; of 



54 



THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 



beaten work shall the candlestick be made ; his shaft and 
his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be 
of the same. And six branches shall come out of the sides 
of it, three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, 
and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side. 
Three bow r ls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a 
flower in one branch ; and three bowls made like almonds 
in the other branch with a knop and a flower : so in the six 
branches that come out of the candlestick. And in the 
candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto almonds 
with their knops and their flowers. And there shall be a 
knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under 
two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches 
of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out 
of the candlestick. Their knops and their branches shall be 
of the same : all of it shall be one beaten work of pure gold. 
And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof; and they 
shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over 
against it. And the tongs thereof, and the snuff-dishes 
thereof, shall be of pure gold. Of a talent of pure gold 
shall he make it, with all these vessels. (Exod. xxv. 31-39.) 

Not one of the many items in the above de- 
scription is so clearly stated that, with our present 
knowledge, it can be surely delineated, and there 
are other points not touched on at all. We do 
not know its size, though we may approximate to 
it by knowing that, including the " snuffers " and 
" snuff-dishes " belonging to it, it weighed a talent 
of pure gold, about ninety-six pounds, which in 



THE LAMP-STAND 



55 



bulk is equal to about thirty-eight pounds of iron. 
It was not, therefore, very large — not over three 
cubits (four and a half feet), perhaps not more 
than two and a half, in height, with a spread 
of the longest branches of possibly two cubits. 

In the R. V. "its base" is mentioned, but 
nothing is said of this in the A. V. We have 
no illustration of such a lamp-stand in any of 
the Egyptian pictures or sculpture, indeed there 
is nothing in early Egyptian remains which can 
certainly be identified with lamp uses of any 
kind, so that whatever illustration we make is 
purely conjectural. 

The shaft, the branches, and other parts are 
called " beaten w r ork " and in the margin "turned 
work," the Hebrew term being that applied to 
the making of the cherubim, trumpets, and sim- 
ilar articles. This implies that it was not solid 
or cast, and that in form its parts were round 
and not angular. The base may have been in 
the form of feet, as are nearly all the ancient 
high lampstands of which we have examples, but 
it seems more probable that it was circular as 
delineated above. 



56 



THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 



The usual illustrations are copied from the 
carving on Titus's triumphal arch in Rome, but 
this, if true to the article represented, does not 
bear on the one we are considering. Dr. Paine, 
from a close study of the terms used, thinks the 
arms were straight, reed-like, and at right angles 
to the shaft, as shown in the illustration. On 
the central member, under each projecting arm, 
there was a knop or ball. The lamp holders are 
called " flowers" — possibly calyx would be a 
more accurate translation — 
and the knop under this 
would correspond to a seed- 
vessel, or capsule. For the 
lamps we have no model. 
They are spoken of as seven 
in number, and yet there 
were three almond-shaped 
bowls or cups, either united 
or separate, in the flowers 
above the knops. A form 
which seems to fulfil the re- 
quirements is a triple lamp — 



TRIPLE LAMP 



FLOWER 




THREE BOWLS 

OR CURS 

ONE LAMP 



LOCATION OF THE FURNITURE 



57 



a single oil receptacle formed of three united al- 
mond-shaped vessels, each with a wick. The 
six arms were thus furnished, but the central 
shaft supported a similar lamp with four lights. 
It was placed on the south side of the outer 
room, opposite the table. Josephus says it was 
not in a line parallel with the side wall, but fac- 
ing the east and south, or diagonally, but we see 
serious objections to the adoption of this view. 

In the Ground Plan of the Tabernacle on the 
following page, the position occupied by the sev- 
eral articles just described is plainly seen. The 
front half of the Holy Place is empty, the rear 
half contains the table, the lamp-stand, and the 
altar of incense, the latter placed directly in 
front of the veil and near the projecting bars of 
the- ark of the testimony. The ark is in the 
centre of the Holy of Holies and is placed in 
the axis of the building, as are also the table 
and the lamp-stand, instead of across the rooms 
as is commonly shown, and this for reasons stated 
elsewhere. This diagram also shows the arrange- 
ment of the planks and of their tenons and socket 
blocks. 



N3 3aos aooa 




TttM ALTAR OF BURNT OFFERING §g 



THE ALTAR OF BURNT OFFERING. 




if 



And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits 
long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be four square, 
and the height thereof shall be three cubits. And thou 
shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof ; 
his horns shall be of the same : and thou shalt overlay it 
with brass. And thou shalt make his pans to receive his 
ashes, and his shovels, and his basins, and his flesh-hooks, 
and his fire-pans ; all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of 
brass. And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of 
brass ; and upon the net shalt thou make four brazen rings 
in the four corners thereof. And thou shalt put it under 
the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even 
to the midst of the altar. And thou shalt make staves for 
the altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with 
brass. And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the 
staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it. 
Hollow with boards shalt thou make it : as it was shewed 
thee in the mount, so shall they make it. (Exod. xxvii. 
1-8.) 



6q THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 

This, the largest of all the articles connected 
with the ritual, was placed in the court east of 
the tabernacle, and between that, building and 
the court gate. It stood upon a mound of earth 
so that the officiating priest was visible to those 
at a distance outside the court curtain wall. It 
was a box frame without top or bottom, and was 
covered with brass (copper). At each of its four 
upper corners there was a projection called a 
horn, though this was not necessarily the form, 
which may have been more like those of the 
temple, a cube. Probably the lower corners were 
raised a little above the ground, so that a current 
of air might pass through the grate and create 
a draft facilitating combustion. Midway of its 
height there was a grating, seen in the picture 
partly withdrawn, or not wholly in its place. 

When in transit the utensils connected with 
the sacrifices were packed in the space above the 
grating, wrapped in a cloth of crimson (purple) 
and the whole was protected by a covering of 
so-called "badgers'" skins. 

The altar did not retain its first appearance 



THE LA VER Q r 



for many years. After the rebellion of Korah 
and his associates, their two hundred and fifty 
copper censers were flattened out and nailed on 
the outer surface of the altar, thus testifying to 
the sacredness of the priestly office and of the 
articles used in the service, and the sin of pro- 
faning either. (Num. xvi. 38-40.) 

THE LAYER. 




No specifications are given of the size or form 
of the laver. It was to be of brass (copper) and 
it was to be placed between the altar and the 
tabernacle, the instruction being, " And thou shalt 
set the laver between the tent of the congrega- 
tion and the altar," without specifying the exact 
relation, which may have been immediately be- 



(j 2 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 

hind the altar as shown in the ground plan of 
the court, p. 66, or somewhat to the southward, as 
with the laver of the temple, (i Kings vii. 39.) 

The material of which it was made was con- 
tributed by the women, who gave their bronze 
looking-glasses for that purpose. 

The shape delineated here is purely imaginary, 
though based on an ancient form which seemed 
appropriate and possible. It contained water for 
washing hands and feet during the ceremonials 
of the service. 

For purposes of comparison all the illustra- 
tions of tabernacle furniture are drawn upon the 
same scale. 



V. 

THE COURT AXD ITS WALLS. 



And thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle : for the 
south side southward there shall be hangings for the court 
of tine-twined linen of a hundred cubits long for one side. 
And the twenty pillars thereof and their twenty sockets shall 
be of brass : the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall 
be of silver. And likewise for the north side in length 
there shall be hangings of a hundred cubits long, and his 
twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of brass : the hooks 
of the pillars and their fillets of silver. 

And for the breadth of the court on the west side shall 
be hangings of fifty cubits : their pillars ten. and their sockets 
ten. And the breadth of the court on the east side east- 
ward shall be fifty cubits. The hangings of one side of the 
gate shall be fifteen cubits : their pillars three and their 
sockets three. And on the other side shall be hangings 
fifteen cubits : their pillars three, and their sockets three. 

And for the gate of the court shall be a hanging of twenty 
cubits of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine-twined linen. 
wrought with needle work : and their pillars shall be four, 
and their sockets four. All the pillars round about the 
court shall be filleted with silver : their hooks shall be of 
silver, and their sockets of brass. 



64 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 

The length of the court shall be a hundred cubits, and 
the breadth fifty everywhere, and the height five cubits of 
fine-twined linen, and their sockets of brass. All the vessels 
of the tabernacle in all the service thereof, and all the pins 
thereof, and all the pins of the court, shall be of brass. 
(Exod. xxvii. 9-19.) 

Every feature of the tabernacle description has 
its own peculiar difficulties to be solved. Here 
the one of spacing the pillars so that they will 
give even distances is presented — such regularity 
of proportion as is present everywhere in and 
about the structure. To put twenty pillars on 
the side, one in each corner and eighteen be- 
tween, gives us but nineteen spaces of 5 T 5 9- 
cubits each — an odd number which appears at 
once to be unlikely ; and, the corners being al- 
ready occupied, to put ten between them on the 
west end makes eleven spaces of the fifty cubits, 
or 4 n cubits each, which also seems objec- 
tionable. 

Difficulties appear in the eastern end of the 
enclosure also, but by a study of the problem 
and a little ingenuity we think all these may be 
made to disappear, and the absolute accuracy of 
the description brought into view. 



THE COURT PILLARS 



65 



As with some other things in the description, 
we can best approach this subject in an order 
different from that given in the record, namely, 
by taking the east end first, and adding the 
others to it. 

In the east end we have three divisions : two 
curtains each of fifteen cubits and three pillars, 
and one gate opening between these, closed by 
twenty cubits of hangings similar to the door 
screen — of linen, blue, purple, and scarlet. Tak- 
ing the first as our initials, and putting a post 
in each of the eastern corners, proceed toward 
the centre, north and south with the three pil- 
lars, placing them five cubits apart. Then add 
to each series one of the gate posts, also five 
cubits from the adjoining pillar, and we have 
support for the two wings — three spaces of five 
cubits each = fifteen cubits. The gate must now 
be put in. This is twenty cubits, with four pil- 
lars, two of which we have already used. Four 
pillars give but three spaces, and 20-^-3 pro- 
duces just the kind of fractional result we dep- 
recate. But just here we note that Josephus 






§ i i 



^enqno 



K 



&wj: " 





a 


o 


< 


J 


o. u 


UJ >>z. | 




:0§i if 


F W S 


*A * 


4 H 1 


' >• ms ' 


j U H 


m 


X i t. 


H !•- 1 o 

IUUUJLIJJJUUU1 



*U?J~ 



66 



THE COURT GATE 



6 7 



says these were arranged " after the resemblance 
of open gates," and there is nothing in the sacred 
description which contradicts this. Indeed when 
we remember the timidity of cattle and the very 
great difficulty of driving them into a strange 
enclosure under an overhanging entrance way, 
especially one so low as five cubits, we can re- 
cognize the probability at least, of some arrange- 
ment which would remove this as much as pos- 
sible. The very term "gate," rather than "door," 
suggests a plan such as here proposed, namely, 
placing the two remaining posts each five cubits 
from one of those already set, thus leaving a 
central space of ten cubits for the main gate. 
The hanging for this gateway is apparently a 
single curtain of twenty cubits covering the en- 
tire space, and if we follow the specifications 
literally, as we now understand them, we must 
open the gate for the larger animals by folding 
fifteen cubits back over a corresponding length 
on one side : fr^TT* 5 * .0 u 5 u 5 u 5 u 5 1 '> but if 
there were two curtains of ten cubits each, the 
gateway could have been opened by folding them 



68 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 

back thus : P — — — *=% f=% — o — o — q , or on oc- 

[5 5 £► 5 10 5 5 5 ;5V 

casion the whole twenty cubits could have been 
uncovered. When closed at night, or at other 
times, a bar of double length — ten cubits — would 
be required between the posts of the central 
opening and the curtain hung therefrom. 

Having the east end fixed as a base, we can 
add our twenty pillars on each side, with their 
twenty spaces of five cubits each, and thus com- 
plete the sides harmoniously and without diffi- 
culty. 

The western end, if the ten pillars are equally 
spaced between the two corner posts already 
planted, shows eleven spaces of 4^ cubits 
each. But we have in the tabernacle walls a sug- 
gestion of another possible plan which, adopted 
here, removes all difficulty. It is to make the 
two end-spaces two and a half cubits each, and 
the others five; or in other words to put the 
pillars in the middle of each five-cubit space. 

Thus we accomplish the equal division of 
spaces, and secure a regularity desirable in it- 
self and in harmony with details everywhere 
present in tabernacle measurements. 



COURT PILLARS AND CURTAINS 



6 9 



From the standpoint of spiritual interpretation 
no change in the order of statement can be thought 
of ; but here, as in other places, it is allowable to 
treat the natural side of the narrative in a way 
that will bring out clearly the features which con- 
tain the spiritual, and with the true arrangement 
of these court pillars in mind we can return to 
the order in which they are given us in the Word 
and find that they come into place naturally. 
There we have as the first and essential thing 
the hanging or curtain of one hundred cubits 
belonging to the south side. The east end being 
understood as in position though not yet spoken 
of, we place the first of the twenty pillars belong- 
ing to this south side five cubits west from the 
south-eastern corner, and the others at equal dis- 
tances of five cubits, thus making twenty equal 
spaces. The north side we must treat in exactly 
the same manner and thus complete the two sides. 
The west end follows as before described, and 
lastly we put in the eastern end with its gate 
spaces and wings. 

We must remember that these pillars were in 



yo THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 

charge of a different family of Levites from that 
having the curtains, and that they must have been 
all placed in position before any of the curtains 
could be hung ; therefore the eastern corners were 
up and ready to receive the side hangings when 
they were brought forward. 

The pillars about the court, following the width 
of the curtains, are necessarily five cubits in 
height. They and the bars connecting them were 
of shittim wood, probably covered with silver, 
though this is an inference rather than a clear 
statement, for there are some indications that they 
were covered with copper. The heading, pins, and 
rings on the top were of silver, but the bases or 
sockets and the cord pins were of brass. 



VI. 



REMOVAL AND RE-ERECTION OF THE 
TABERNACLE. 



We have thus traversed the features presented 
by a general study of the descriptions given in 
the Word. Many other things, arguments for 
the plans proposed or enlargement of views pre- 
sented, could have been given, but these seemed 
beyond the purpose of this little work, and con- 
fusing rather than helpful. Before leaving the 
subject, however, it will be well to look at the 
method or sequence of events in taking down and 
re-erecting the tabernacle. This work w r as per- 
formed by the three families of the Levites ; 
amongst whom the whole was apportioned. When 
about to remove, Aaron and his sons entered the 
tabernacle, as only they and Moses could do while 
the articles were exposed, and covered the ark 



72 



THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 



with the veil and other wrappings, pushing the 
bars into their normal places. The other articles 
and their vessels were then packed and covered, 
as fully described in Num. iv., and the whole, 
under the care and supervision of Eleazer were 
then delivered to the sons of Kohath, not one of 
whom, however, was permitted to touch or even 
to look upon the holy things themselves. This 
family also had charge of the Great Altar of Burnt 
Offerings and of the Laver. All these things 
were to be borne upon the shoulders by means 
of the staves belonging to each. 

It is interesting to note the arrangement of the 
coverings on the holy articles of the tabernacle, 
remembering that the things themselves, and both . 
the materials and colors of the coverings, are rep- 
resentative of things in man — things internal and 
external. 

UNDER. INTERMEDIATE. OUTER. 

The Ark. The Veil of 3 Colors and Gold. Blue Skins. Blue Cloth. 

The Table. Blue Cloth. Flame (scarlet) Cloth. Blue Skins. 

The Lamp-stand. Blue Cloth. Blue Skins. 

Altar of Incense. Blue Cloth. Blue Skins. 

Altar of Burnt Offerings. Crimson (purple) Cloth. Blue Skins. 

When all these articles had been removed, the 



RE-ERECTING THE TABERNACLE 



73 



sons of Gershon, under the direction of Ithamar, 
took down the tabernacle curtains and the cover- 
ings from the tent and then the tent itself, and 
packed them in the wagon prepared for them 
(Num. vii. 7). Also the gate and the curtains of 
the court wall with their cords, pins, etc., and 
finally, the sons of Merari, also under the super- 
vision of Ithamar, took down the remaining stand- 
ing portions — the tabernacle walls, the veil and 
door pillars, the pillars of the gate and court, with 
their socket-blocks, their cords, and pins — and 
thus completed the dismantlement of the taber- 
nacle and its court. 

When a permanent camping place was reached, 
we can imagine all this succession as reversed. 
The ground surveyed and accurately laid out, a 
trench for the socket-blocks leveled and the blocks 
placed in position, and the walls of the tabernacle 
erected. At the same time the pillars of the 
court were being planted and braced. Then the 
curtains were spread both within and without the 
building and about the court ; and finally the holy 
articles of the interior of the tabernacle were 



74 



THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 



brought in and deposited exactly where they were 
to remain. No after removal or handling to 
change position was necessary nor, consequently, 
permissable. 

In speaking of the arrangement of the curtains 
forming the dark interior room of the tabernacle, 
the Holy of Holies, it was pointed out that while 
the front part with the taches was supported on 
the bar above the veil pillars, the two western 
corners must necessarily have been held up by 
poles. Nothing is said anywhere in the descrip- 
tion of such poles having been made, and it is a 
cardinal point with us that we should add nothing 
to the record. Certainly a tent pole is implied, 
for it is a necessary adjunct of a tent ; and if our 
arrangement of the inner curtain is an approach 
to the truth the corners must be supported. They 
will not stand alone. In this dilemma the thought 
is presented that possibly the staves of the several 
articles may have been used for both these pur- 
poses. They were gold-covered and so would 
harmonize with the golden plank walls. They 
could have been made of suitable length for the 



POLES SVPPORTIXG THE CURTAIXS 



75 



ends proposed, without unfitting them for the office 
which is mentioned, and we see equal dignity and 
sacredness in their supporting the essential cur- 
tains and roof of the tabernacle, with that of sup- 
porting the several articles when borne upon the 
shoulders of their bearers. So used they would 
be alive and active, and not for the time dead tim- 
ber. They seem to represent faculties or powers 
which may not be laid aside dormant because 
supposed to be fitted only to some purpose not 
then present — some talent which may be safely 
laid aside in a napkin till called for — if any such 
there be. So this appears to us and we offer it 
for consideration. 



VII. 
THE PRIESTLY GARMENTS. 



The clothing of Aaron and his sons is so mi- 
nutely described, and so evidently contains spirit- 
ual truth of importance, that it is well to get as 
clear a picture as possible of all the items men- 
tioned. In the tabernacle the articles of highest 
significance were within the building, and these 
were covered by curtains of four graded values, 
i. Those of rich colors and gold embroidery. 2. 
The goats'-hair tent. 3. Red rams' skins. 4. Hya- 
cinth or blue goats' skins. Here the rich articles 
both in color and in intrinsic value are outside, 
and the plainer ones in form and material are 
covered. Taking these in the order in which they 
were worn, the first is the short garment covering 
the middle part of the body. 

76 



THE LINEN BREECHES AND COAT jj 

And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their 
nakedness ; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall 
reach ; and they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, 
when they come in unto the tabernacle of the congregation. 
or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the 
holy place ; that they bear not iniquity and die ; it shall be 
a statute forever unto him and his seed after him. (Exod. 
xxviii. 42. 43.) 

This article of dress can be best described as 
a loose bag with an opening at each of the lower 
corners for the feet and lower limbs to pass 
through. The upper part was gathered and tied 
about the waist. 

The coat, the second garment, has but a few 
words of description or reference. Like the for- 
mer, this seems to have been an adaptation of the 
common dress of the country, and, in the light 
of a knowledge of these, may be pretty well under- 
stood and pictured. It was of fine linen, embroid- 
ered in colors, perhaps with the forms of flowers. 
It was like a shirt, rather spare in width, but long 
and reaching nearly to the feet. The sleeves 
may have been tied about the wrists or lower 
part of the arms, and at the waist it was confined 
by a girdle of fine colored and embroidered ma- 



78 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 

terial, which was wound about the body and tied 
in front, the ends reaching nearly to the feet when 
the priest was not engaged in sacrificial duty, at 
which times it was thrown over the shoulder. 

And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue. 
And there shall be a hole in the top of it, in the midst there- 
of ; it shall have a binding of woven work round about the 
hole of it, as it were the hole of an habergeon [coat of mail, 
R. V.] that it be not rent. And beneath the hem of it thou 
shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of 
scarlet, round about the hem thereof : and bells of gold be- 
tween them round about ; a golden bell and a pomegranate, 
a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe 
round about. And it shall be upon Aaron to minister ; and 
his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy 
place before the Lord, and when he cometh out, that he die 
not. (Exod. xxviii. 31-35.) 

The before mentioned garments were worn by 
all the priests ; but this one was especially pre- 
pared for the high priest. It was probably a 
woolen fabric. From the description of the open- 
ing for the neck it seems to have been a long 
single piece of material without seam, but with 
an aperature left in the weaving for the passage 
of the head. This opening was bound with a 
strip of similar material to prevent tearing. The 



THE ROBE OF BLUE 



79 



garment was bound to the body at the waist by 
the curious gir- 
dle attached to 
the ephod. On 
the low r er edges 
or hem of the 
robe there was a 
fringe in the 





S5a55a<§5 



form of balls or pomegranates of 
blue, purple, and scarlet, between 
each two of which there was a 
golden bell. 
It may be noted that in the 
Cesnola Collection in the Met- 
ropolitan Museum of Art in 
New York, there are several bells 
of bronze of very ancient make, 
closely resembling the forms now 
in use and size fitted for this pur- 
pose. With the knowledge that such forms were 
then in use, it is reasonable to suppose that these 
may have been similar rather than of the less 
agreeable shape sometimes show T n. 




go THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 

This is also a form of ornament found on Egyp- 
tian statues. Not only is the ball or sun, alter- 
nating with a bell, seen repeated in a long series, 
but the crescent, luna, and bell are also found. 
This, then, like so many other things connected 
with this inquiry, seems to indicate Egyptian in- 
fluence. 




\(J[\(J!\(JI\ 



And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of 
purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work. 
It shall have the two shoulder pieces thereof joined at the 
two edges thereof, and so it shall be joined together. And 
the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of 
the same, according to the work thereof ; even of gold, of 
blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. (Exod. 
xxviii. 6-8.) 

The ephod thus described was of rich colored 
and embroidered material. It consisted of " two 
shoulder pieces " or strips of cloth passing over 
the shoulders from the girdle in front to a bind- 
ing at the waist behind. The fabric was woven 
narrow, probably of two handbreadths in width, 
the stripes, if such was the arrangement of the 



THE EPHOD 8 1 



colors, consequently running across the goods, or 
horizontally, when worn. 

In front the two pieces were 
attached to the girdle, a long 
sash of similar material, not 
close together but apart, so as 
to leave an opening a span wide 
which was filled by the breast- 
plate. The other permanent at- 
tachments of the ephod are the 
two rings of gold in front, just 
above the girdle to which the 

breastplate was attached by means of a lacing of 

blue, and the two shoulder " stones of memorial " 

which are thus described. 

And thou shalt take two onyx stones and grave on them 
the names of the children of Israel ; six of their names on 
one stone and the other six names of the rest on the other 
stone, according to their birth. With the work of an en- 
graver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, shalt thou 
engrave the two stones with the names of the children of 
Israel; thou shalt make them to be set in ouches of gold. 
And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the 
ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel. 
And Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon his 
two shoulders for a memorial. (Exod. xxviii. 9-1 2.) 




82 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 

No words of explanation are required to make 
more clear the mental picture of these two stones, 
with their settings and attachments, than may be 
formed from the words of the sacred text. 

And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with 
cunning work ; after the work of the ephod thou shalt make 
it : of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine 
twined linen, shalt thou make it. Foursquare it shall be 
being doubled ; a span shall be the length thereof, a r nd a 
span shall be the breadth thereof. And thou shalt set in it 
settings of stones, even four rows of stones : the first row 
shall be a sardius [a ruby^ a topaz, and a carbuncle : this 
shall be the first row. And the second row shall be an em- 
erald [a chrysoprasus\, a sapphire, and a diamond. And the 
third row a ligure [a cyamus~\, an agate, and an amethyst. 
And the fourth row a beryl [a tar skis h~\ and an onyx, and a 
jasper; they shall be set in gold in their inclosings. And 
the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, 
twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a 
signet ; every one with his name shall they be according to 
the twelve tribes. (Exod. xxviii. 15-21.) 

The breastplate has generally been represented 
as of metal, and the stones as set in three per- 
pendicular rows of four each ; whereas a closer 
reading of the description would have shown the 
body to have been of a fabric woven, like the 
ephod, of colored threads, and square in shape 



THE BREASTPLA TE 



83 



after being doubled. It was a span square, — 
three hand-breadths, or about nine inches. 

Thus thought of, it will be seen that the four 
rows of stones of three each are naturally divided 
into two equal divisions, six on the right and six 
on the left of the central line ; and these are 
again to be divided into two groups of three each. 
There is much doubt about the names given to 
these stones in our version, but we may be sure 
that the order and grouping refer to interior 
spiritual qualities. It is beyond the scope of this 
little work to treat of these more than to suggest 
the appearance and form of this beautiful and 
representative symbol. 

Each of the twelve stones had a name of one 
of the tribes of Israel engraved upon it, but in 
what order these were arranged is not known. In 
the Word these are given in many ways, accord- 
ing to the spiritual phase of the relation, and not 
being mentioned here, it is better not to speculate 
thereon. 

As to the colors themselves it can be stated 
with reason that those on the right breast of the 



84 THE SANCTUARY OR TENT OF MEETING 

high priest were of various shades of red, graded 
from the deepest and purest to one largely tinged 
with blue ; and that those on his left were graded 
from deep blue to tones approaching a bluish 
white. This has been treated of by many writers, 
but the most satisfactory study of the subject 
with which we are acquainted is that by Rev. 
Edward Madeley in his work on " The Science 
of Correspondences Elucidated. " 

Of Aaron's head-dress we know too little to 
warrant us in drawing other than the conventional 
turban. It was something different from this, un- 
doubtedly, but we have preferred to show it thus 
rather than make a form which would be purely 
imaginary. The plate bearing the sacred motto, 
" Holiness to the Lord," is drawn in this illustra- 
tion in the simplest form possible, though there 
is reason for thinking that it may have been in 
the shape of a lotus or papyrus or some other 
kind of flower. Here, as in many other places, 
we have thought it better to leave things unsaid 
or undone, rather than appear to speak with an 
unwarranted degree of certainty. This plate, 



CONCLUSION 



whatever its form, was bound about the head by 
a ribbon of blue. 

And now, in conclusion, the author would re- 
mind the reader that aside from the direct words 
of the record, which are Divine and infallible, 
everything said or thought on this subject must 
partake, more or less, of the human and fallible 
element, and this in proportion and grade with 
the varying thought, perception, or reception of 
the investigator. The views presented here are, 
therefore, necessarily imperfect, and it has been 
his intention to state them without dogmatism or 
too positive assertion. They seem true to him 
today, but another stage may show forms in fuller 
accord with the truth, and when that time comes 
he hopes to be ready to change any or all of the 
views here expressed as new light may demand. 







1 J*r> A^ry-v* MJ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
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